Borders of Russian-annexed occupied territories are announced

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2022, 19:19

According to the agreements submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the borders of the so-called DPR and LPR [Donetsk and Luhansk "People’s Republics"] and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts, which the Russian Federation has supposedly taken over, will be defined as the borders that existed "on the day of their formation and admission as part of Russia".

Source: pro-government Russian agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax; Volodymyr Rohov, representative of the occupation administration of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on Telegram

Quote from the "document": "The borders of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic shall be defined as the borders of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic that existed on the day of its formation and the day of its admission to the Russian Federation and formation as a new subject [constituent entity] within the Russian Federation."

Details: The agreements with the so-called LPR and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts contain the same wording.

What is meant by such wording is currently not clear.

Volodymyr Rohov, the representative of the occupation administration of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, commenting on this definition in the "agreement", noted that "Zaporizhzhia Oblast as an administrative unit in the territory of the Ukrainian SSR [Soviet Socialist Republic] was separated on 10 January 1939 from the southeastern part of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with the administrative centre in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

It remains to liberate the quarter of the oblast that is temporarily occupied by the Anglo-Saxons," he said.

Interfax reported that draft laws on the ratification of the agreements were submitted to the State Duma for ratification on Sunday.

At the same time, according to the "agreements", the borders of the so-called DPR, LPR, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts bordering the territory of a "foreign state" are the state borders of the Russian Federation.

The "agreements" specify that the state language in the captured and annexed territories shall be Russian. That said, the Russian Federation supposedly guarantees all peoples living on the territory of the "new subjects" the right to preserve their native language and create conditions for its study and development.

According to the "agreements", from the day on which the "new subjects" were admitted to the Russian Federation, citizens of Ukraine and stateless persons permanently residing on the territory of the "subjects" shall be deemed citizens of Russia, with the exception of persons who declare, within one month of that date, that they wish to retain another citizenship for themselves and/or their children who are minors or to remain stateless.

The "agreements" also provide that from the day the "new subjects" are admitted to the Russian Federation until 1 January 2026, there will be a transition period to deal with issues arising from the integration of each "subject" into Russia’s economic, financial, credit and legal systems and the system of state authorities of the Russian Federation, as well as the issue of military duty and military service in the territories of the "subjects".

Elections to the "legislative bodies of the new subjects" will be held on the second Sunday of September 2023.

The President of the Russian Federation is to appoint temporary acting senior officials within ten days of the day on which the "new subjects" are admitted to Russia. In Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, they will be called governors, and in the Donetsk and Luhansk "People's Republics", they will be known as heads of the republics.

The "agreements" also stipulate that Russian laws and regulatory legal acts shall be effective in the territory of the "new subjects" from the day of their "admission" to the Russian Federation, unless otherwise provided by Russian law.

It is also noted that regulatory legal acts that are applicable in the "subjects" on the day of their admission to the Russian Federation shall remain valid until the end of the transition period or until a corresponding regulatory legal act of the Russian Federation or of the "subject" is adopted, providing however that they do not contradict the Russian Constitution.

Background:

• On Sunday, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation approved a package of documents on the "admission" of the occupied "DPR", "LPR" [self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics] and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts to Russia. The Russian authoritative body even scheduled "elections" to "parliaments" for 2023.
• On 30 September, after sham referendums were held in the occupied territories, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed "agreements on the accession to Russia" of the captured Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts and declared that henceforth their residents were citizens of the Russian Federation.

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